(Jeff Burk photo)

The first round of eliminations was on Saturday night and the results were fairly predictable as the Nightfire race uses the NHRA 1-vs-16 ladder that favors the quicker cars. The track was not at its best and traction was at a premium, especially since there was a major oil-down by the last pair of Top Fuelers that went down the track just before F/C eliminations started. The track temp dropped about 10 degrees to 86 and the air got better. Some teams were able to adjust and others didn’t.

(Brian Losness photo)  

Bucky Austin had the only five-second ET in the first round, ripping off a 5.947/231.83 in the right lane and sending Canadian Todd Lesenka home early. Krabill had the best reaction time of the round. He cut anastounding .026 light and combined that with a 6.051/234.43 that put  Josh Crawford on the trailer.

The only racer at the event from east of the Mississippi was Paul Romine in the “Man O’ War” Mustang. He had the third quickest ET in the first round, putting up a tire smoking 6.395 ET that saw the Indianapolis-based driver step completely off the throttle at least three times on the run.

When asked why he hadn’t “softened” his tune-up, tuner Mike Cavalieri said, “I figured it’s easier to ice skate than tread water.”